Cathay Pacific cuts 8,500 jobs, shutters regional airline

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific Airways will cut 8,500 jobs and shut its regional airline as it grapples with the plunge in air travel due to the pandemic. The cuts will affect about 5,300 workers based in Hong Kong and 600 elsewhere as well as remove 2,600 unfilled positions. Its regional airline unit, Cathay Dragon, will cease operations from Wednesday. The company said it will seek regulatory approval for most of the shuttered airline’s routes to be operated by Cathay Pacific and its budget airlines subsidiary HK Express. The company’s CEO said the “hard truth” of the coronavirus pandemic was the airline had to be restructured to survive.